Dublin ready to tackle Rebels

DUBLIN forward Kevin McManamon admits his team have almost become preoccupied with the art of tackling since last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork.

Along with Derek Kavanagh’s score, two late Donnacha O’Connor frees were pivotal in denying the Blues a first All-Ireland final appearance in 15 years and Saturday’s ‘rematch’ in Croke Park will bring it all back home.

But, having seen Daniel Goulding punish Kerry with a late winning free in Tralee last Sunday week, McManamon knows Cork are going to be just as clinical when it counts at the weekend.

“It’s something we need to work on,” acknowledged the St Jude’s man of their tackling technique.

“You are trying to make sure when you go in for tackles that you’re not pulling jerseys or not hitting unfairly.

“The two corner-forwards from Cork will stick the ball over from anywhere. But if you don’t concede frees, teams will be doing well to beat you.”

However, McManamon does admit there’s a grey area concerning what constitutes a tackle and what is deemed a foul.

“It can be difficult. You need to judge what way the referee is calling it. Oftentimes, you find out what you can get away with in the first five minutes. The best way of doing it is to note what the ref is doing and then get on the ball as quickly as possible.”

Just as he did last season, McManamon has made an encouraging start to the year but is hoping not to drift off Pat Gilroy’s radar come championship time as he did in 2010.

But now reassigned at centre-forward, away from his former corner-forward berth, he seems to be thriving with the extra responsibility.

“It takes getting used to. There are a couple of things you have to adapt but we talk about that in training. It’s a role I could grow into. A lot of it will come down to how I perform in the summer. Last year there was huge importance on matches in training. At the end of the day, there were lads there that were playing better than me.”